


A Reason To Live

by orphan_account



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/M, Gen, Girls with Guns, Gunshot Wounds, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:09:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24073489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A meeting of minds from across two different sides. A beginning before they drew together.There's nowhere near enough Reeve Tuesti and Shalua Rui fics. I am greatly disappoint. This was written as an RP Ask response so is pure headcanon musings. It's a little basic, but it'll do.
Relationships: Scarlet/Reeve Tuesti, Shalua Rui/Reeve Tuesti
Kudos: 2





	A Reason To Live

**Author's Note:**

> A meeting of minds from across two different sides. A beginning before they drew together.
> 
> There's nowhere near enough Reeve Tuesti and Shalua Rui fics. I am greatly disappoint. This was written as an RP Ask response so is pure headcanon musings. It's a little basic, but it'll do.

“So that’s the rudiments. I’ll just leave you two to discuss things further. I’m sure you’re dying to get the old man out of your hair, kukuku…” With a trademarked chuckle and an even more trademarked shuffle, Professor Leith exited the square peering up at the buildings as he went past, mumbling things to himself.

This left Reeve stood in the Junon sea-breeze in front of Shalua, the resumes of their academic endeavours still being cogitated upon. Shalua Rui was a young but perceptive mind in weapons, bio-augments and prostheses, taking over ideas and applying them before the Professors had managed to even start thinking out of the box. Reeve thought they might have learned from before, but that was academics for you. Lots of theories, little actual application.

He had been struck with an all too familiar feeling, one experienced before in the very same courtyard. Only this time he would not be making the same mistakes he had made with _Her_. “Very impressive, but I’m afraid you may have been misled… My interests, as you can clearly see, are not in weaponry.”

Well, certainly not anymore.

“Yet you still came all this way to meet me?” Shalua raised an elegant eyebrow over the rim of her glasses, “Must not be too busy then, Reeve Tuesti of _Shinra_.” Reeve smiled at the almost dismissive jibe, his curiosity had been peaked, “This is the Junon Shinra Academy. It’s not altogether surprising where I work.” What was surprising was that Shalua had not joined. What was _more_ surprising was the way she had practically spat out the Shinra name.

“If you are wondering, I didn’t graduate from the Academy. I was merely a student of Leith and Simons,” Shalua interrupted Reeve’s thoughts, snorting lightly with a slight dismissive slant as if she had not just read his goddamn mind. She continued, “Well, I say student…”

“Let me guess, only needed them for their labs and ranges?” Reeve crossed his arms in front of him; papers tucked under one armpit and shook his head, “Simons in particular could never resist a pretty woman with a gun and the brains to improve it.”

His words brought a quicksilver smile to Shalua’s lips as she replied, “True. But Leith warned me about you too.”

Reeve blinked, feeling somewhat emotionally betrayed by his one time supervisor, before Shalua tacked on apparently to rub salt in the wound, “I’m not worried. You‘re the least threatening man I‘ve come across. And that includes all these old bastards.”

The twitch of Reeve’s lips nearly betrayed his thoughts, “Have we quite finished emasculating me yet?” Though humour rung through as he returned her jibe from earlier, “I‘m sure you must be terribly _busy_ …But how about we not make this a complete waste of time and get a bite to eat?”

Shalua briefly looked taken aback before her features hardened and became hungered with a look, “Hm. Perhaps that view needs revising. I’m not finished with you. First we make a stop off at a lab... I‘m sure you’ll know which one when we get there.”

They made their way down through the campus towards the dockland striated grey blocks. Reeve had already made one decision upon Shalua, it was clear she was none too enamoured with the Shinra Electric Power Company. Being curious and keen to find out more he followed and kept pace to her long strides, watching as they walked. Her motivations became even more known when he realised what path they were walking. For, just as he knew the elusive Turk HQ in Midgar, so too did Reeve know where to find the suits in amongst the Junon streets.

Still, must keep up appearances, he was merely an Urban Development man after all, “Where are we goi-“

A loud shout of “Halt!” drowned out Reeve’s question, as the next thing he knew he had been physically shoved back by Shalua into one of the narrow alleyways criss-crossing the militarised city, “Stay back. I’ll deal with this.”

Reeve did as he was told, it was best he remained unseen; he had enough explaining to do to Veld as it was. Two troopers in Shinra blue started to advance on Shalua. He shook his head and hissed at her from the sidelines, “You don’t need to do this. I can get them to stop!” Reeve could say the Scientist was in his charge or… _something_. Anything would be better than getting into a fight with the army on Junon streets. In answer, Shalua pulled a gun from a holster at her thigh and Reeve's brain chimed _oh sweet Shiva_ before she threw a look back at him over her shoulder, “Don’t worry, I promise you I won’t hurt them.”

Reeve thought he heard her mutter an added, “…much.”

One, two shots rung out. Shalua was holding true to her words. She had a great aim, immobilising both troopers by a bullet to the kneecap. Reeve winced at them as he glanced around the corner. One of the grunts had pulled out a PHS and was calling for back up, as the other started shouting loudly, before returning scattergun fire, “She’s AVALANCHE. Get her!!!”

From the opposite direction another two soldiers arrived and Reeve swore under his breath when he saw one carrying a fire launcher, “ _Shit_.” Slipping out from the side, he ran around behind the two backup, fingers tightening around the smooth yellow cone of a megaphone. A cast of blind and they stumbled. With a sudden shriek Shalua fell to the ground, a stream of bullets coming from one fallen grunt directing its way through her shoulder. Reeve called for a cure, the green light settling over her body as he looked around for a quick escape.

The two blinded soldiers were firing randomly, the two other soldiers flailed with their own wounds upon the floor. Another cast of blind to the two on the ground and Reeve darted past them, pulling Shalua up as quickly and carefully as he could. There was a truck further down the road he had seen. Half dragging, half running he got them to the vehicle to quietly jack the door.

“Get in.” Reeve ordered Shalua into the front cab, but she was holding her ground despite her injuries, looking blearily at him, “Why did you save me?” she asked in a weakening voice. Gods, but she was a mess.

“We have no time to argue. Back up is on its way and those four will soon be coming ‘round,” His voice was firm, “I’d rather not be associated with terrorist activity against my employer, thank you. Get _in the truc_ k, Shalua.” Bundling her as best he could up and through the door, Reeve crawled over to the other seat, keeping them both low and out of sight. She groaned as he knocked against her injured shoulder to slam the door shut, “This is your fault… I- I could’ve shot them in the chest. Why? Why did I promise you?”

“Yeah, yeah, entirely my fault…” Reeve took the blame with a rare dose of sarcasm. Ripping out the bottom of the dashboard, fingers deftly sparked the engine into life and he sat up, before pulling out of parked position slowly, inconspicuously. “It’s because you’re a good woman.”

The words surprised him even as he spoke them, but somewhere, instinctively, he felt them to be true. He trusted his own instincts, so he supposed that was good enough for him. Reeve called out another dose of cure magicks before dropping his unorthodox weapon to the seat and shrugging out of his jacket. Pulling it over Shalua, he gripped her shoulder tight with one hand, the other steering them away from the docks. The engine purred beneath him like a coeurl. He certainly liked the feel of this vehicle, “Keep down and put pressure, here.”

Shalua gave out a very unladylike grunt and glared at him. Her glasses had fallen askew which Reeve was beginning to find ridiculously distracting, so instead he determined to focus on the road out of Junon. “Where are we going?” She asked, to which Reeve hummed in response, “I know a place further up the coast.” North East of Kalm. His childhood home. He really should not be doing this. “You need to rest and those bullets need extracting…” The ones that had not passed clean through, that is, “Cures can only do so much.”

Shalua sounded plaintively confused, “But why are you doing this? I’m an AVALANCHE member… just as they said…”

Reeve considered his response silently. He knew about AVALANCHE of course, more than Shalua could imagine no doubt. He had also already decided that he did not need Shalua’s expertise. At least not yet, and certainly not with Cait Sith. Reeve’s creation needed to be just that - his creation. “I couldn’t just leave you there to die.” He grinned a little, “And you _did_ say it was my fault.”

They cleared Junon, the day was sunny and fresh as the behemoth of a vehicle started to skim the coast. Reeve looked down at Shalua and challenged her gently, “Do I need to be worried? Was it your intention to kill little old me back there after giving you access?”

Shalua laughed breathlessly in response, “I don’t… hurt people unless they get in my way.” The same hungry, hardened look passed over her features before she looked up at Reeve. There it was, the first spot of genuine humour he had seen alighted in her eyes, “And, you _are_ the least threatening man I’ve met… ”


End file.
